WThe Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) was established in 1997 by the Tanzania Investment Act to be “the Primary Agency of the Government to coordinate, encourage, promote and facilitate investment in Tanzania and to advise the Government on investment policy and related matters.”

The Tanzania Investment Center (TIC) offers a package of investment benefits and incentives to both domestic and foreign investors. A minimum capital investment of $500,000 if foreign owned or $100,000 if locally owned is required.

Tanzania Investment Centre has established four zonal offices in order to assist Investors who are based in nearby regions to access TIC services without necessarily travelling to Dar es Salaam. The zonal offices are in Kilimanjaro region (Northern Zone), Mwanza (Lake Zone), Dodoma (Central Zone) and Mbeya region (Southern Highland Zone)

Tanzania Investment Centre recognizes the great role played by SMEs in building national economy. The full potential of the SMEs sector has yet to be tapped due to the existence of a number of constraints hampering its development.

A project of minimum fixed investment cost at least US$ 100,000 for projects which are wholly owned by Tanzanian Citizen(s) and US$ 500,000 for projects which are wholly owned by foreign investors or if a joint venture.

Overview

The Communication Act of 1993 paved the way for advancement of the telecommunication sector, while the National Telecommunication Policy (NTP) of 1997 provided the framework for further reforms and private-sector engagement in the sector. A milestone in telecom sector was achieved by the establishment of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) in 2003, as an independent agency for the regulating and licensing of postal, broadcast, and communication, industries. The TCRA is mandated to promote competition and economic efficiency, protect consumer interests, grant licenses and enforce license conditions, regulate tariffs, and monitor performance. Please refer to the next exhibit regarding subscribers of voice telecommunication in Tanzania.

Available opportunities

Provision and operation of Private Network Links employing cables, radio communications, or satellite, within Tanzania.

Communication activities continue to grow at a rate of 20% annually due to increase in mobile phone activities.

Tanzania is now connected to the fiber optic cable to global networks through India and Europe. This development has resulted in increased investments by internet service providers (ISP).

The number of internet users was 4.9 million (2010 estimates), which implied that only 20% percent of people in Tanzania had access to internet services

During the same year 2010, the tele-density of telecommunication sector grew by 50% percent.

The TCRA has also approved a Converged Licensing Framework (CLF), which allows operators to offer any type of services with the technology of their choice with one single license. The licenses are technology-neutral and service-neutral.

Following such convergence in licensing, Tanzania’s telecommunication sector has become more appealing to both Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and domestic capital, and is becoming one of the country’s fastest growing sectors

Telecommunication market potential indicated positive signs, such as penetration rate of 61% percent; 24,345,279,292 minutes of national traffic; 201,827,164 minutes of traffic to international; and 253,811,569 minutes of traffic from international.